By Kelsey Gee 
 

CHICAGO--U.S. cattle futures are extending a recent slump Friday, pressured by worries about demand, reflected by weakening prices for cattle in the cash markets.

October cattle futures recently shed 1.15 cents, or 0.8%, to $1.4045 a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Live-cattle futures for December are down 1.075 cents to $1.4280 a pound.

Feeder-cattle futures for September recently declined 1.4 cents to $2.0115 a pound.

Wholesale-beef prices have edged narrowly lower in the past week, a potential sign of weaker end-user demand, which has contributed to a steep drop in prices packers have been willing to pay in the cash markets. Beef processors have been reluctant to pay up for cattle in the negotiated trade, with sales reported across all major cattle feeding regions Friday at lower prices.

Early Friday, an estimated 10,000 head in Nebraska and Colorado were sold for mostly $1.43 a pound live, down from last week's range of prices from $1.44 to $1.47 a pound. Around 17,000 head in Kansas have also been sold for that price, down from last week's sales from $1.45 to $1.46 a pound.

This follows sales earlier in the week from $1.41 and $1.47 a pound, which, while in a wide range, reflect the pessimism among beef processors about the strength of domestic and export demand.

Exports reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday show a monthslong trend of sluggish beef and pork sales continued into August.

The export value of U.S. pork, at $443 million for July, was the lowest monthly total in over four years, and the volume of beef shipped, at 92,000 metric tons worth $555.7 million, were the smallest since 2010. The U.S. Meat Export Federation, a nonprofit industry group, attributes the slowdown, in part, to the strong U.S. dollar, which makes domestic goods more expensive to foreign buyers. This data is also weighing on the livestock markets Friday.

October hog futures were recently down 0.025 cent to 69.425 cents a pound. December futures recently shed 0.275 cent to 63.75 cents a pound.

Write to Kelsey Gee at kelsey.gee@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 04, 2015 13:04 ET (17:04 GMT)